Thanks to dear Stalin for our happy childhood!

Throughout its existence as a country the Soviet Union employed propaganda to spread and reinforce the ideals that the government wanted its citizens to have. An example of this is a 1936 poster of Soviet Dictator Josef Stalin surrounded by and embracing a group of children. By analyzing the piece and putting it into the proper historical context, we can ascertain the message that the Soviet government was trying to convey, why this message was significant enough to require piece, and its alignment with the Soviet ideology.

Starting in the foreground of the propaganda piece we can begin to reveal some of the details that will make the message clear. The central figure of the piece is Josef Stalin, posed in a manner where he is embracing two children in a paternalistic manner. Furthermore, he is smiling while looking downward at a piece of artwork that one of the children is showing to him. Around him are nine children, of all varying ages but all around elementary school age. Several of the children are all looking up to Stalin and are all dressed well and smiling. The manner in which the children are posed implies that they are thankful to Stalin, and this implication is justified by the tagline “Thanks to dear Stalin for our happy childhood”. Lastly, going into the background there are trees dotting the background and more children playing with a scooter and a pair of peddle cars.

The meaning of this piece is clear, that being that the high quality lives the children of the Soviet Union are due to Stalin, and by extension the Bolshevik party. This improvement in the quality in life would, as Stalin and Bolsheviks would have believed, would have been due to the Five-Year Plans enacted by the party from 1928 to 1937. These plans pushed industrialization, in particular heavy industries such as automobiles tractors or airplane, moving the once agrarian nation to be counted amongst the modern industrial powers of the time. This advancement is reflected in the propaganda piece by the inclusion of examples of the advancements. The main example are the toys used; peddle cars in the background, a cruise liner toy ship is held by a boy next to Stalin, and a model airplane held by a girl amongst the children surrounding Stalin. Another aspect of the message is that thankfulness to Stalin himself. This reflects the growing personality cult Stalin was forming around himself, especially the paternalistic role that was a defining aspect of the role of Stalin’s regime.

The message of this propaganda is directed mostly at children and this is coming from the Soviets’ concern of raising children in the proper manner. This concern stems from the need of the Soviet Union to raise the next generation with the ideology and ensure the continuation of the communist system. Furthermore, there was ever present need for workers, to maintain and grow the economic output of the country, and soldiers, to protect the revolution from those who would seek to sabotage it. The Bolshevik party was very active in achieving this end of indoctrinating the upcoming generation of Soviet citizens and founded several programs. First is the “Vladimir Lenin All-Union Pioneer Organization”, a program that would be comprised of children from ages ten to fifteen. The program was designed to instill the values of the Soviet state into these children and wore as a status symbol a red handkerchief around their necks, like the girl holding the airplane in the propaganda piece.

This piece of propaganda aligns well with the Soviet ideology. The piece focuses heavily on the improvements that were made under the party’s rule. This progress would have been ideologically viewed as making life better, despite the suffering that came alongside with. Furthermore, it shows the central role Josef Stalin has as the one who pushed for these changes and that the citizens of the Soviet Union should be thankful to him and the Five-Year Plans.

The study of propaganda is an important part of the study of the Soviet Union. Propaganda was a tool to spread messages that helped spread and strengthen the Soviet Ideology. By looking at a 1936 piece depicting Stalin surrounded by children, the message can be ascertained. This message was that of thankfulness towards Stalin, aim mainly at the children of the Soviet Union, an important campaign that would ensure the continuation of the Soviet ideology, and aligned itself well with the Soviet programs directed at children and the growing personality cult of Stalin.